Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel tank mounting structure of a saddle-ride-type vehicle, and more particularly to a mounting structure for mounting a rear side of a fuel tank.
Description of Related Art
There has been known a fuel tank mounting structure where a fuel tank is supported on a main frame which constitutes a vehicle body frame, brackets which project rearward are formed on a rear end portion of the fuel tank, the brackets are made to overlap with a cross member which extends between a pair of left and right vehicle body frames, and the brackets are fastened to the cross member by bolts from above (see Japanese Patent No. 2999149).
With respect to a saddle-ride-type vehicle, there has been known a structure where a buffer for a rear wheel suspension is supported on a cross member which extend between left and right vehicle body frames behind a fuel tank. However, to consider the case where such buffer supporting structure is adopted, when the support structure of the rear end portion of the fuel tank disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent No. 2999149 is also adopted, the cross member for supporting the fuel tank and the cross member for supporting the buffer are separately provided thus giving rise to a possibility that the vehicle body frames cannot acquire appropriate rigidity.
On the other hand, for supporting a rear end portion of a fuel tank, there has been proposed the structure where a cross member is not used, a shaft (bolt) extends between vehicle body frames instead of the cross member, and the rear end portion of the fuel tank is mounted on the shaft. In this case, however, when a type of fuel tank is adopted where a fuel pump is incorporated into the fuel tank and the fuel pump is mounted on a bottom surface of a rear portion of the fuel tank, there may be a case where the presence of the shaft impedes the mounting of the fuel pump on the bottom surface of the rear portion of the fuel tank or the arrangement of a fuel pump pipe below the bottom surface of the rear portion of the fuel tank. The present invention has been made to overcome these drawbacks.